


On the field of sunflowers

by karasunotsubasa



Series: KageHina Week December 2014 [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Arranged Marriage, Fluff, How Do I Tag This, Like, M/M, and hinata is also a prince but from a different kingdom, basically kageyama is a prince, or something?, umm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 18:10:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2742110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunotsubasa/pseuds/karasunotsubasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a political marriage, just to ensure the safety of their borders. That's all it was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the field of sunflowers

**Author's Note:**

> KageHina Week December 2014  
> day 3  
> prompt: Hera - royalty
> 
> A/N: this is my absolute fav of all the fics I have prepared for kagehina week, ahhh

His father insisted it was necessary, and Tobio might have agreed at some point - it was a political marriage, just to ensure the safety of their borders, which was the only point Tobio conceded within the general scheme of things - but after long days he spent on the road on the back of his horse (even though he loved the animal immensely), the pain in his ass, this stab to his pride and everything about his future husband - ha! imagine that! they couldn't even find a girl for him to marry! - brought a grim scowl onto his face, scaring off the other travellers, as well as his own guards.

A part of him, very small, somewhere at the back of his heart, deep, deep beneath the layers of irritation, exasperation, anger, annoyance and pure displeasure - a part of him looked forward to meeting Karasuno's prince. He's heard a lot of rumours about him, some probably exaggerated out of proportion to make him seem more... otherworldly. Because that was the only word Tobio could describe the mysterious man with.

Apparently, the prince was his age, short as a dwarf, but fast as lightning - no one could come close to paring his sword when he got serious. Clearly he had not yet met a worthy swordsman, Tobio thought in the quiet of his mind, otherwise not even batting an eye. Also, one time the prince is said to have outran a fleeing stag during the hunt, and for what? To stop the party from killing it. Now, the brilliant swordsmanship Tobio could believe in, even if it was against everything he stood for, but this? Complete bogus.

There were also the stories of how the prince was the most lovable creature to ever walk on earth, and how his smile could warm up even the coldest, most stone-hearted warriors in the kingdom. From the sound of it, the prince was perfect, in beauty, charm and ability far exceeding everyone else. And Tobio knew that anything painted with such an allure was always hiding something vile and gruesome behind the surface. He believed Karasuno's prince was no exception.

Thus was why Tobio was so on guard as he and his knights travelled through the unknown country. It wasn't unheard of for one of the parties to lure the heir of the throne into their midst and have him assassinated on the way, later on feigning innocence to get out of an uncomfortable marriage. He had never met the prince, nor his father, the king, for that matter, but his inborn distrust of anything and everything whispered into his ear that they could be capable of such a thing. Hence, the 8 knight-strong guard, sharp swords strapped to their belts and bows tacked safely to their saddles. Better safe than sorry, Tobio thought.

They passed village after village, unfamiliar faces at every turn, so similar to the ones of his countrymen, but strangely so different. The same could be said about the landscape. Whereas his kingdom was full of harsh weather, mountains and hard, stubborn soil, Karasuno was... bright. Sunny. Vibrant. Tobio's eyes still weren't used to the way sun shimmered in the clear water of the rivers, he still found himself lost in the high greens of the grass fields in the valleys and in the quietly beating with life forests, and he still couldn't get enough of the cerulean sky and puffy white clouds over his head. After all the days he spent there, he no longer wondered why the people in this kingdom were always so loud and boisterous, why they could laugh carelessly at everything that happened around them.

They were happy. They were warm. They were full, with the food the earth itself offered them.

So unlike where he came from, Tobio thought with slight bitterness, watching the landscape before him clear of trees. The road stretched even further beyond the horizon, but right outside the forest, in the middle of a small valley surrounded by two hills that covered it from the unwelcome eyes, was the capital. The city where his fate would be sealed.

Tobio pulled his horse to a stop, suddenly against the whole idea of marriage. The life as he knew it would end in a matter of hours and he just now realized, he wasn't ready. The ceremony was scheduled on the day after his arrival, and for the longest moment Tobio had an urge to turn back where he came from to prolong it further. Run, run, run. As far as his feet take him.

His mount trotted restlessly in place and Tobio tightened his hold on the reins. It seemed as if he sniffed out the doubts rolling off of Tobio in imperceptible waves. And he wasn't the only one.

Hooves clanked on the stony path as one of his knights moved up to stand with him.

"Scared?" If it was anyone else but Iwaizumi, Tobio would be out to have their head. Now, he only nodded, avoiding the other's gaze. "You don't have to be, we've got your back, if you need us."

 _That's part of the reason I'm scared_ , Tobio thought, but out loud he said, "I'm not scared of dying, captain. It's living that terrifies me."

He glanced at the leader of his guard and, maybe it was just his imagination, maybe a reflection of the clouds on the sunny sky, but for a second he saw in there pity and something so sad that he grimaced outwardly. He did not need that from his men. Not now, not ever.

"We're moving down," he barked, and without waiting pushed his heels into the horse's soft sides.

It shot down the road, the knights at his back scrambling to get into formation around him, but he paid them no heed. He was alone in this country. Alone in his kingdom. Alone wherever he would go. And that suited him best.

Marriage or no marriage.

He will still be alone.

They continued forward to the city, slower once the guards caught up with him, and Tobio spent most of his time familiarizing himself with the surroundings. In case of an emergency, it would do him good to know his way around. But there wasn't much to make of anyway, the landscape flat with fields of grass and small farms here and there. What caught his attention and held it captive until they came  a few feet short though, was a field of what he believed to be flowers, stretching far to the side of the valley on both its sides. Flowers it were, Tobio noticed as they got closer, but such as he had never seen before in his whole life.

The dark circle as the head and a crown of delicate but numerous, light as the sunrays, yellow petals. Tobio stared at them, fascinated. The blackness of the flower's heart drew him in, he was mesmerized by how nature could use something as miserable and joyless as black colour was and change it into something beautiful and full of energy. For a brief moment he wondered if his heart could be healed of its melancholy just like these flowers, if he stayed under this sun.

He quickly abandoned his sentiments, when the front of their party stopped, and he noticed two figures at the side of the road, barely visible in the scorching sun and high flowers. He motioned for caution and they proceeded onwards. As the strangers' figures grew, Tobio's ears caught distant echoes of laughter from somewhere down the field of flowers. He turned his head that way, shocked to see heads popping up and down the line of flower heads. He blinked in surprise and then squinted to sharpen his eyesight in the brightly shining sun.

Children. There were children playing in the field. But no child could reach that high, he thought with growing suspicion.

He stopped near the two strangers and noticed an empty cart standing right behind them.

"What's going on here?" he asked, curious against his own better judgement.

The men traded glances, and the older one - at least Tobio believed he was older, since his hair was all silver - answered, "Why don't you go and see for yourself?"

He contemplated it thoroughly. He could go, there was hardly anything that could harm him there, if the children were fine. But should he? It was no business of his, whatsoever. Then again, if he does go, he'd lose time. He'd lose time...

Before he could dismount, a voice from the back made him turn around in his saddle.

"You shouldn't, Your Highness..." Kindaichi began, but at hearing the title, Tobio couldn't help the glare which immediately silenced the knight. He grimaced. What a bunch of cowards.

He threw his leg over the side of his horse and slid down, bending his knees at the landing. Patting the animal's neck, he handed the reins to Iwaizumi, who took them in silence, as Tobio stepped around the formation and into the field.

"You really shouldn't, Tobio-chan," Oikawa came closer from the vanguard. "What if something happens to you? The wedding would be delayed!"

"And what a shame that would be," Tobio mumbled to himself, as part of him whispered 'Aren't you here to prevent that from happening?'.

Even more than before he was dead set on going in, and forestalling another attempt at stopping him, entered the field. His steps were quick, and he was surprised to find how loud they sounded to his own ears. All the other sounds were blocked by the massive flower leaves, and he could only hear their rustle against his clothes as he walked. Now and then there was a squeak, followed by an outburst of childish laughter, and the silence again. Unconsciously, Tobio grasped the hilt of his sword.

There was a sudden rustle at his back and he turned around, but only the leaves swayed in the wind, as if someone has just ran past them. Tobio turned around and was about to take a step, when something locked around his ankle and tugged him down to the ground. In complete surprise, he fell, not even withdrawing his sword form its sheath.

And then he landed. On something soft and warm, sweetly smelling of the sun. Or maybe that was just the ground.

Tobio heard a quiet groan and then eyes the colour of molten amber blinked up at him, and for the love of everything holy, he couldn't remember what his name was, or why was he on the ground in some strange country in a field of flowers he couldn't name. All he could do was stare straight into these eyes, which reflected the sun from above his shoulder in cascades of gold and amber, and sparks of yellow so bright he was blinded. But he could not avert his gaze from it.

"Who are you?" he breathed, and his own voice sounded alien to his ears.

The person underneath him squirmed uncomfortably, the wondrous eyes squinted the slightest bit. "Suga-san?" he shouted, and only now did Tobio realize the person was a man. And a man with a beautiful, expressive voice that perfectly matched his eyes, and for the longest moment Tobio wished he would never stop speaking. "Whom did you let in here?"

There was a laughter from somewhere far away it seemed, but Tobio couldn't really focus. He was hungrily watching anything and everything of the men beneath him, how his eyes changed with the reflections of the sun, how his lips moved, the corners of his mouth always up, even when he was trying to frown, how the strand rays falling through the crown of flowers shimmered in the red-as-fire hair. Tobio felt his breath getting knocked out.

It was like looking at the sun, bright and vibrant. And after years he spent in his cold kingdom, it felt as if he couldn't get enough of it.

"That's your prince right there!" came an amused reply, from what Tobio supposed was one of the men he saw on the road. And then what he said fully registered in his brain.

"Wait, what?" the man beneath him scrunched up his face in thought, and Tobio watched him process the information. Seconds flew by, but Tobio didn't care. He watched the man in a new light, more critical than before, but still a touch of reverence from before hid somewhere in his gaze. So this... This was his soon-to-be husband?

Then the sunny brown eyes widened, and Tobio realized the other must have finally gotten to that part too. It was peculiar how suddenly all air left them, neither breathing, as if enchanted not to. Tobio stared straight into Karasuno's prince's eyes without blinking, and he could have sworn that deep inside them, in a reflection of himself, but also in the man below, there was fear. Fear of each other, of the unknown, of the rest of their lives, which they now had to spend together.

The moment passed quickly, as the prince blinked and the air left him suddenly in a whoosh. He was then scrambling up from underneath him, pushing at Tobio's chest with his hands, which flew all over his chest and arms, touching, checking.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," his voice was now quieter, and slightly breathless, but apologetic and concerned. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Bewildered by the treatment, Tobio could only answer, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I fell on you, after all."

The man only laughed at him - and it was the most breathtaking, pleasing sound Tobio has ever heard in his entire life - dismissively waving a hand at him.

"I'm used to falling, you'll see."

There was no menace in his voice, but they both noticed the sudden tension was back in the air. 'You'll see' implied the future. The time they would spend together. Getting to know each other. As husbands.

Deciding not to dwell further on it, Tobio climbed to his feet and offered the prince a hand, which he took and rose to his feet with fluid grace that left Tobio blinking. Somehow it was hard to believe that anyone moving like that could be 'used to falling'. Or maybe there was another definition of falling he was not yet aware of.

"Ah! Where are my manners?" the prince exclaimed and turned to him fully. "Welcome to Karasuno, Your Highness," he spread his hands wide, as if presenting him to the land, which was nothing more than yellow-black crowns of sunflowers and their green leaves.

"Don't call me that," Tobio snapped automatically, and regretted it the second it left his mouth. The other's eyes widened, his hands dropped to his sides, but he said nothing on the subject.

"How shall I call you then?" he asked instead.

"Just Tobio is fine," Tobio answered, and looked away briefly. "And sorry for that."

The prince only hummed in reply, and smiled at him brightly. As brightly as the sun shining through the yellow petals of sunflowers, as brightly as the rays of copper that glistened in his hair, as brightly as the gold sparks in his amber eyes.

"Welcome to Karasuno, Tobio," he repeated and offered him his hand. "You can call me Shouyou."

Not trusting his voice, Tobio only nodded and grasped his hand. It was warm, like the sun, like the earth, like the laughter of the people of this country, like the open hearts and easy smiles. And some of the inborn ice around Tobio's heart started melting as he looked at the person soon-to-be wedded to him, and the smile still - and ever - present on his face.

Maybe...

Maybe here won't be alone, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> bc I had soooo many ideas on continuing this - which I won't btw, don't ask - here you have some hc I would use if I did:
> 
> like, imagine how hinata turns out to be a major embarrassment when he opens his mouth for real and he's a total airhead and clumsy as shit and even tho everything kageyama heard about him was true, they somehow forgot to mention the part when hinata falls on his ass and/or face at least twice a day but it's weirdly endearing and kageyama can't help but fall for him??? so yup, that's the gist of what would have happened in this fic if I ever wrote another like 7 parts of it which will never happen but it's nice to dream
> 
> also, imagine the wedding, and kageyama is getting all sappy as the hidden romantic he is and he brings hinata a bouquet of sunflowers 'to mark the day we met' and hinata smiles at him the brightest smile ever and uh huh ur going down son DORKS IN LOVE GOD HELP ME
> 
> oh, btw, if anyone wants to write either of these two, PLEASE DO *u* and get me a link afterwards bc I'd love to read it~


End file.
